


Tuesday Night at 8:30

by amythis



Category: Laverne & Shirley (TV)
Genre: Dobie Gillis references, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-06
Updated: 2019-12-06
Packaged: 2021-02-18 03:15:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21670921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amythis/pseuds/amythis
Summary: The aftermath of "Lenny's Crush"
Relationships: Laverne De Fazio/Lenny Kosnowski
Comments: 7
Kudos: 8





	Tuesday Night at 8:30

"What's wrong, Laverne? Is it the mustache?"

"No, Rusty, I like your mustache." She stroked it, feeling it tickle her fingertips like it had just been tickling her face.

"You just seem so distracted tonight."

"Hey, you wanna watch TV? We can catch the last bit of _Father Knows Best."_ She thought about how her father thought he knew best, which he did about some things, but not about her needing to get married soon, preferably to an Italian.

"I didn't exactly come over here to watch TV."

"I'm sorry. I guess I'm just not in the mood tonight."

"Is it because of Leonard?"

"No, I told you, I've forgiven you for hitting my friend, especially since he hit you first."

"Yeah, with a hot dog. Do you know how hard it is to get mustard out of a mustache?"

She managed not to laugh. "He was just trying to protect me."

"I think he's got a little crush on you."

The laugh she held back now was more of a sad chuckle than a snicker. "Ya think?"

"Yeah, you'd better be careful, Laverne. You don't wanna lead him on with your friendliness."

"No, we talked about it after that and he understands I don't think of him that way."

"And how do you think of me?" Rusty asked, stroking her hair.

"I like you. And you've got a tushie as good as the Braves'."

"Thanks, but that's not what I'm asking."

"What are you asking?"

He sighed wearily and removed the arm that he'd placed around her shoulders. "Look, I thought you invited me over to make out, which would be great, but you don't seem that interested. And you don't want to talk and get to know each other better that way. You just wanna hang out and watch television like we're just friends, or an old married couple."

"We could compromise and make out during the commercials."

He didn't laugh but instead grabbed his jacket from the coffee table Lenny had tried to crawl under three nights before. "I should go."

It would be so simple to ask him to stay, to make out with him more enthusiastically, especially since he was so cute and muscular. But she said, "OK, see you around."

"See ya," he said and headed out the front door.

She sighed and turned on the TV. That season, _Father Knows Best_ was in reruns, and she recognized this episode from the tag. It was the one where Kathy, the younger sister, tries to stop being a tomboy and act more feminine. It still bugged Laverne, who knew that you could wear both dresses and jeans, like both boys and sports.

Shirley, who ever since junior high had tried to get Laverne to be more ladylike, was out on a date with Carmine. Laverne didn't feel like watching TV alone. She went over to the dumbwaiter and yelled, "Hey, Lenny, you wanna watch _Dobie Gillis_ with me?"

She figured he'd say yes, since they had gone to _Godzilla on Monster Island_ on Saturday as friends, after talking things out. Of course, he might be out with Bridget again, the girl he had a date with on Monday. Laverne frowned. She felt protective of Lenny and didn't think Bridget was good enough for him. She realized though that this was probably a rebound and it was good that Lenny had the confidence to bounce back and ask another girl out so quickly.

After a pause, Lenny yelled, "Yeah, I'll be down in a minute."

She went back to the couch and told herself that it was great that they were still friends and could just hang out together. She didn't want to think about why she'd rather hang out with Lenny than make out with Rusty, but if someone, say Shirley, had called her on it, she would've said that she was comfortable with Lenny and she'd known him for years, while Rusty was just another cute guy and she'd made out with cute guys before, and would again. Tonight she just wanted to watch the Tuesday night line-up on CBS with company.

When Lenny came in, he held up a jar and said, "I brought the Bosco."

She laughed. "I'll go get the Scooter Pies." They had discovered when they were kids that dipping the Pies into the Bosco made them even more chocolaty. She also poured herself milk & Pepsi. "What do ya want to drink, Len?"

"Tap water's good," he said, setting the Bosco jar down on the coffee table.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, yours tastes better than upstairs."

She shook her head but poured him a glass from the kitchen sink. She knew that he considered this basement to be a "luxury apartment" compared to the studio that the boys had, since the girls didn't have to sleep in the living room, and they had the nice black & white television set that Laverne won dancing with Richie Cunningham.

He came over to help her carry the drinks into the living room. He was always doing little thoughtful things, sometimes without asking, like helping her clean up after she kicked the Braves fans out of the living room because Shirley was cranky. Unfortunately, he could be clumsy sometimes, so she said, "I'll do the drinks, you do the Scooter Pies."

He nodded and their hands grazed as they switched off. She hoped he wouldn't spill the drinks after all.

"Thanks."

He nodded again and they went back to the living room, setting the Pies and drinks on the table. The TV was still on, but Laverne had turned down the volume during the commercials.

"What episode is it tonight?" Lenny asked as he sat down, not as close as he usually sat to her, but not at the other end of the couch either.

She opened _TV Guide_ to Tuesday at 8:30 and saw that it was a new episode, "Dobie Plays Cupid," and silently read that it was about Dobie boosting his best friend Maynard's confidence with girls. "You know, maybe we should watch _Wyatt Earp_ or _Alfred Hitchcock_ instead."

"Laverne."

She sighed and handed over the little magazine. He read it slowly and silently, then set it face-down on the table and turned up the volume on the TV.

As they tuned in, Maynard was so scared of girls that he was hiding in a tree at a dance. "Poor guy," Lenny murmured.

Lenny had never seemed scared of girls exactly. He would sometimes grab and/or kiss them without asking. But he was sometimes shy about actually asking them out, especially if he didn't have Squiggy's help. True, he had asked her out a few times even before he "fell in love with her" Friday night, but that was because he knew her and it wouldn't crush him to be rejected. Well, until the crush.

She supposed he wouldn't ask her out or flirt anymore. She was relieved about that but she wasn't sure what it would be like to not have him chasing after her anymore. She might miss it a little, even if she didn't want him to be in love with her.

The next comment Lenny made was after Mrs. Gillis said, "Why to hear you talk, you'd think he was hopeless, bumbling, impossible, washed-out," and Maynard entered, saying, "You rang?" Lenny shook his head and said, "Television is so irrealistic. People don't just show up on cue like that in real life, week after week."

She smiled to herself and said, "Yeah, you can't believe everything you see."

Mostly though, they didn't talk much during the show and just laughed a little and ate their Scooter Pies dunked in Bosco. When the episode was over, Lenny said, "Thanks for letting me watch with you, Laverne. I guess I'll take my leavings now."

"Do you wanna stay for _The Tom Ewell Show?_ Or we could switch over to _Stagecoach West_."

She expected him to say sure, or make an excuse to go. Instead, he said, "I thought you had a date with Rusty tonight."

She sighed and looked down at the _TV Guide_. "I did, but he went home."

"Oh, I see. I'm your fallback back-up, um, up-fall."

"No, Len, I wanted to hang out with you instead."

"Why?"

"I don't know."

"Laverne, look at me."

She did and tried not to think of the look on his face when she'd had to tell him that she didn't have the special feeling for him. "I like being with you. As a friend."

"Yeah, but you could've invited me over tomorrow night, for _The Price Is Right_ or _Ozzie and Harriet_. Or any time neither of us had a date."

"Why aren't you out with Bridget tonight?"

"I just went out with her last night."

"Yeah, but if you really like someone, you wanna see them every night."

"Well, you know how the song goes, even true love can be boring night after night."

"So you're in love?"

"Don't be stupid, Laverne. It takes me years to fall in love with someone overnight."

She looked away. "It's good you're moving on."

"Well, yeah, even though you stomped on my heart, you kind of boosted my confidence. Not like Dobie did for Maynard."

"Yeah. I didn't bribe and flatter girls to flirt with you."

He chuckled. "Yeah. But you know, you kept telling me how sweet I am, and you said that you think I'm even better-looking than Squiggy. And I figured, I must be a pretty good guy if you love me as a friend."

She nodded. "You are, Len." 

"So that made me feel that even if you don't have that special feeling for me, some girl out there will."

"Yeah. Um, does Bridget?"

"I don't think so. We just had the one date, remember?"

"Right."

"I'm trying to move more slowly than I did with you. I mean, not the years of chasing you, but what happened last weekend. I don't want to scare her off."

"Yeah. I mean, we just had a little kiss, not even our first kiss, and then the next thing I know, you're singing love songs to and about me."

"One song, that I stayed up all night writing."

"Yeah. Don't do that with Bridget."

"I won't."

"Good."

"Laverne, can I ask you something?"

"Um, OK." She risked looking at him again.

"What would've happened if the next morning I didn't give you the rush and I just asked you on a date?"

"You mean not to the Braves game or _Godzilla?"_

"Yeah, more like a real date."

"I don't know, Len." She would've said no a couple years ago, but she was no longer so sure. They got a lot closer after he helped her work through her feelings about her late mother, and she was just overall more comfortable around him than when they were younger.

"I'm sorry I got a serious crush on you."

"Hey, how could you resist?" she joked.

"Yeah," he said, looking serious.

She hesitated and asked, "Are you over me yet?"

"Give it a few more hours."

She snorted and then shook her head. "I'm sorry."

He took her hand and said, "Look, Laverne, I'm always going to like you and maybe have special feelings for you. Maybe I always had them, or maybe they're deeper now. I'll do my best not to talk about them, but you brought it up. Yeah, it'd be nice, I guess, if I just liked you a little and we could date casual. And maybe someday that will happen, the feelings will fade and we can just go out. If you want."

She knew she should say that she would never ever date him, seriously or casually, because she shouldn't lead him on again, and she didn't want to hear Shirley's Ned Sterns story again. Instead, she said, "Let's just let the future take care of itself." And she squeezed his hand.

They let go and he stayed through _The Red Skelton Show_ , voicing his hope that someday she'd win another TV set and they could watch it in color. She didn't make any promises as he left with the Bosco.


End file.
